Leaving Glasgow, we drove to Kilmaurs. This is where my family is from. We met a new cousin. His grandmother and my grandfather were siblings. We met for breakfast at Rowallen castle. When Alec and I were here, it was being restored. Uncle John (with the accent so thick we could only understand 1 word in 10) showed us through because he had worked on it and he could get a key from a friend. Now it is a golf club and very posh. Peter is an architect so he and Alec had interests in common.
After a lovely but really slowly served breakfast, we headed off to the cemetery. My grandfather died and was buried in Ewing Township, NJ, but he is mentioned on the family grave stone. No one could remember exactly where the stone was so we were going to have a scavenger hunt.
We found it.
My grandfather was David.
For future reference: in the old cemetery, with your back at the wall by the road, counting the stones at the wall as one, it is in the third row, slightly right of center. The name on the top of the stone is Margaret Rowen in loving memory of her husband John Tennant, who was accidentally killed in the railway Collision at Barrassie, 4th Feb., 1898, aged 36 years.
Bidding a fond farewell to Peter, we proceeded to the fan shop of the Killmarnoch Killies, the local soccer team. More souvenirs, this time for Alec. There was a game that afternoon, but we had places to go, things to see.
On to Hadrian's Wall. There is a great Roman war museum about the life of the soldiers. It has lots of little movies showing their daily lives and what they were expected to do.
The others hiked up the hill to see the wall, I stayed in the car and knitted. I've seen the wall up close and personal after walking through a field filled with black faced sheep.
Found a small restaurant built at a ruined castle close by for dinner. Fish & chips and a burger.
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